2026 tax year · Schedule H
Nanny / household employer tax calculator
Pay a nanny, housekeeper or caregiver over the threshold and you are their employer, with Social Security, Medicare and unemployment taxes to match. Here is the real cost.
Hire someone to work in your home and control how they do it, and they are your employee, not a contractor. Once cash wages reach $2,800 in 2026 you owe the "nanny tax": employer Social Security and Medicare, federal unemployment tax (FUTA), and state unemployment tax (SUTA). It all goes on Schedule H with your own Form 1040.
Your assigned state rate.
Only if the employee asked you to.
Enter the wages you pay to see what you owe as a household employer.
What you actually owe
Employer FICA is 7.65% of wages, 6.2% Social Security up to the $184,500 wage base, plus 1.45% Medicare with no cap. FUTA is 6% of the first $7,000, but paying your state unemployment tax on time earns a 5.4% credit that drops it to just 0.6%. Miss that deadline and the full 6% applies.
Worked example
A nanny paid $40,000 in a state with a 3.4% SUTA rate on a $7,000 base, state tax paid on time:
| Employer tax | Amount |
|---|---|
| Employer Social Security (6.2%) | $2,480 |
| Employer Medicare (1.45%) | $580 |
| FUTA (0.6% of first $7,000) | $42 |
| State unemployment (SUTA) | $238 |
| Total employer taxes | $3,340 |
| Total cost to you (wages + taxes) | $43,340 |
The $40,000 of wages actually costs you $43,340, about $3,340 in employer taxes on top. Separately, you withhold the employee's own $3,060 FICA share from their pay; you do not pay that, they do.
Questions
When do I have to file Schedule H?
If you paid any one household employee $2,800 or more in cash wages in 2026, or you withheld federal income tax for them. You file Schedule H with your Form 1040 by the April deadline.
Why does FUTA jump from 0.6% to 6%?
The 6% federal rate comes with a credit of up to 5.4% for state unemployment tax paid on time, leaving a net 0.6%. The credit is the full 5.4% even if your state rate is lower, as long as you pay the state on time. Miss the state deadline and you lose the credit, so the federal rate reverts to the full 6%.
Is my nanny an employee or a contractor?
Almost always an employee. If you control what work is done and how, hours, tasks, methods, the IRS treats them as your employee, and issuing a 1099 does not change that. Independent contractor status is for workers who run their own business and set their own methods, which a household nanny rarely does.
What does the employee's share cover?
You withhold their 7.65% FICA from their pay and remit it with your employer share, so the government gets the full 15.3%. Those contributions build the employee's Social Security and Medicare credits, the reason paying "under the table" quietly costs the worker their future benefits.
Related tools
- Child care tax credit offset some of this cost
- Paycheck calculator the employee's side of withholding
- Self-employed tax calculator if you hire a true contractor instead
Estimate for the 2026 tax year. Federal figures are from the verified dataset; state unemployment rates and wage bases vary and are entered by you. Not tax or legal advice.